The purposes of this paper are to show how the development and
procurement processes are affected by accountants and to consider what human factors
knowledge accountants should have to facilitate the acquisition of systems that will make
a genuine contribution and organizational improvement. Many systems are procured that do
not provide a significant overall benefit to the acquiring organization. The process of
acquiring significant systems almost always involves financial specialists who, by their
training, focus on value for money. Findings of a study of accounting syllabi are reported
with respect to human factors content. While accountants may have a large input into the
decision making process with respect to system design and procurement, their awareness of
all of the relevant human factors issues is limited. This is likely to negatively affect
their decision-making capabilities. One body within the accounting profession that is
redressing the balance is identified. Its use of the concept of human information
processor is briefly described. Ways to further improve the training of accountants so
that human factors practice can be better accommodated are considered.

An important theme in information systems research is that
organizational factors are critical to the success of computer investments. This paper
provides broad statistical evidence for this proposition. For our analysis, we have
compiled a unique data set of over 1,000 firms which includes the total stock market value
of firms, their installed base of computer capital, detailed measures of the
organizational structures, and a battery of other factors.

Using a theoretically-grounded model, we find that a one dollar
increase in a firm's installed computer capital is associated with an increase in the
firm's stock market valuation of over five dollars, while controlling for all other
tangible assets. For this to be equilibrium, the financial markets must believe that each
dollar of computer capital is accompanied by an average of over four dollars of intangible
assets. We then identify a candidate for these intangible assets: certain organizational
characteristics, involving the structure of decision-making and the nature of job design,
are highly correlated with computer investments. While these organizational
characteristics do not appear on a firm's balance sheet, we find that they lead to higher
stock market valuations.

Strikingly, firms that combine higher computer investments with these
organizational characteristics have disproportionate increases in their market
valuations. Our findings are quite robust to a variety of alternative models and the
results are generally strengthened when we control for potential reverse causality. We
conclude that the contribution of computers to a firm's market value is increased when
they are combined with certain intangible assets, specifically including the cluster of
organizational changes that we have identified.

This paper describes the design of groupware for virtual organizations
that share certain characteristics. First the concept of virtual organizations is
introduced. Then our application partner, the "virtual" service company Sigma,
and our empirical work at Sigma are described. The identified problems are categorized and
discussed. Finally, we present the derived aspects for the design of groupware in the
context of virtual organizations.

Telemedicine is one proposed solution to problems of accessibility,
quality, and costs of medical care. Although telemedicine applications have proliferated
in recent years, their diffusion has remained low in terms of the volume of consultations.
In this study, Attewell's (1992) theory of knowledge barriers is extended to explain why
diffusion of telemedicine remains low. In case studies of telemedicine programs in three
world-renowned medical centers in Boston, Massachusetts, we find that, in addition to
technical knowledge barriers, as suggested by Attewell, there are economic,
organizational, and behavioral knowledge barriers that inhibit the diffusion of
telemedicine. The lowering of these barriers entails intensive learning efforts by
proponents of applications within adopter organizations. They need to develop technically
feasible, medically valid, reimbursable, and institutionally supported applications in
order to justify the value of telemedicine and engender frequent and consistent use by
physicians.

Organizations have been looking for efficient and effective information
communication to create and sustain a competitive advantage. The recent surge in the Web
has created new interest in intranets as an alternative for cost-effective and
boundaryless information exchange. Amid the interest, one of the problems in developing
intranets is a dearth of design methodologies. This article presents an intranet design
methodology focusing on the navigation and user-interface designs. Based on various
classification schemes such as attribution, the navigation design organizes information
into global and local structures using the concepts of metainformation structure and
information structure. The user-interface design utilizes Minsky's frame to map
the elements of the metainformation structure and information structure onto the actual
user-interface objects.

Method-ism in Practice: Investigating the Relationship Between
Method and Understanding in Web Page Design, Edgar A. Whitley, London School of
Economics and Political Science

This paper develops earlier theoretical work that raised doubts about
the common perception that the proper use of information systems development methods is
necessary and sufficient for obtaining a proper understanding of a problem domain. It
provides a summary of this existing theoretical material before presenting new
qualitative, empirical results, taken from the developers of successful web sites, which
support the notion that methods are not being used in the way their developers intend
them, but rather that pre-understanding is a necessary requirement for successful method
use.

This study investigates the important organizational task of
environmental scanning in an Internet context. A theoretical model relating potential
causal factors to effectiveness of environmental scanning was formulated based on a
synthesis of environmental scanning literature that took into consideration the Internet
context. A questionnaire was developed for data collection. Responses from 105
organizations were tested for convergent and discriminant validity before the theoretical
model was assessed using PLS analysis. Results showed that smaller organizations tend to
scan more frequently on the Internet, both use of external consultants and volatility of
competitor sector tend to cause organizations to scan more frequently on the Internet, and
both use of external consultants and scanning frequency on the Internet tend to result in
effectiveness of environmental scanning. Additional insights on these results were
obtained through telephone interviews with 10 respondents.

Uncertainty in the external environmental context has been shown to
affect organizational change and innovation. Distributed work arrangement is an
organizational innovation that has the potential to enable a firm to meet the challenges
of an uncertain environment more effectively. This exploratory study employs a structural
model to examine how environmental uncertainty affects organizational predisposition
(adoption intention) toward distributed work arrangements through shaping organizational
perceptions of distributed work arrangements (perceived relative advantage, compatibility
and complexity). Environmental uncertainty is assessed in terms of environmental
complexity and variability. Data analyses using partial least squares statistical
technique revealed that environmental complexity is negatively associated with perceived
relative advantage and perceived compatibility, which were in turn positively related to
adoption intention for distributed work arrangements. Contrary to past findings, which
suggest that distributed work arrangements could help organizations respond better to
uncertain conditions in the environment, our study found that decision-makers operating in
complex environments do not perceive distributed work arrangements as beneficial and
compatible. The results suggest that these organizations could strive to develop expertise
to deal with their complex environments by increasing their information processing
capacity, thereby enhancing their perceptions of the benefits and compatibility of
distributed work arrangements.

An Empirically-grounded Framework for the Information Systems
Development Process, Brian Fitzgerald, Executive Systems Research Centre,
University College Cork

It is generally taken as axiomatic that systems development
methodologies play a useful role in guiding the systems development process, and that
their increased adoption would improve the process and product of systems development.
This paper summarizes the arguments and pressures which support the use of methodologies.
However, the problems associated with the use of methodologies have not perhaps received
as much attention in previous research. A number of factors are identified in the paper
which question the value of methodologies. These dichotomous arguments--in favor of and
against the use of methodologies--bring about a dilemma for systems developers as to
whether to adopt a formalized development methodology or not. This research study was
therefore concerned with investigating the nature of systems development and the use and
role of systems development methodologies in actual practice. The study adopted a
comprehensive multi-phased and pluralist research strategy. First, the researcher's
commercial experience as a systems developer, coupled with a detailed examination of the
literature, and a pilot study involving personal interviews with experienced developers in
five organizations were drawn upon to validate and refine the research objective. The next
stage of the research involved a postal survey of developers in 776 organizations.
Quantitative statistical techniques were used to analyze the survey responses. Following
this, the final phase of the research involved a field study comprising personal
interviews with 16 experienced practitioners in eight organizations. The field interview
data was analyzed in a qualitative manner so as to elucidate and elaborate on the survey
findings. Based on the research findings, the paper presents an empirically-grounded
framework which describes the development process as it pertains to modern organizations.
The components of the framework are discussed in detail and relevant implications are
identified.

Analysts and Clients in Conversation: Cases in Early
Requirements Gathering, Cathy Urquhart, Sunshine Coast University College

This paper discusses a number of interviews with analysts and clients
about their aims in early requirements gathering, carried out as part of three case
studies in analyst-client interaction. Analysts and clients were asked about their aims,
their professional role, and other issues that arose in their interactions with each
other. The paper explores themes that emerged from these case studies that can be seen to
be embedded in the social context of early requirements gathering--how the issues to be
discussed were put forward, professional relationships, and the overall organizational
context in which the interaction takes place. Some observations are made about the varying
social contexts of early requirements gathering and the role of individual differences,
and the possibility of using typical contexts as "repertoire building research."

Trust: The Panacea of Virtual Management? D. Sandy
Staples and Pauline Ratnasingham, The University of Melbourne

As more and more information systems (IS) development teams work in
distributed arrangements, concerns about enhancing virtual workers' effectiveness will
become more common and important for IS management. Trust between managers and employees
can potentially enhance employee effectiveness by reducing uncertainty and increasing
satisfaction and commitment. To study this, employees' perceptions of interpersonal trust
between themselves and their manager in both a virtual management and a non-virtual
management environment were quantitatively examined (n = 631). Contrary to suggestions in
the literature, it was found that trust had a larger impact on key outcome variables such
as job satisfaction and job stress for non-virtually-managed workers than it did for
virtual workers. The results also suggest that cognition-based trust is more important
than affect-based trust in a virtual workplace. Managers should concentrate on activities
that demonstrate their competence, responsibility and professionalism, since this
increases cognition-based trust. Although trust is an important determinant of
effectiveness for organizations to manage, it does not appear to be any more important in
a virtual setting than it is in a non-virtual setting.

This paper reviews some virtual organizations and the costs and
benefits of being in a virtual organization. Particular emphasis is given to those costs
and benefits deriving from the information technology and processes required to facilitate
communication and transaction processing in virtual organizations. Using analytic models,
this paper analyzes two problems faced by companies joining virtual organizations and by
virtual organizations:

 Under what circumstances should a firm join a virtual
organization and when should they do extensive information search regarding joining that
virtual organization?

 Is it possible to chose a set of standards that are optimal for
each company and the virtual organization? Arrow's impossibility theorem is used to find
that there is no standard that meets the optimal needs of the virtual organization and
each individual company in the virtual organization.

Competing Dichotomies in IS Research and Possible Strategies
for Resolution, Brian Fitzgerald, Executive Systems Research Centre, University
College Cork, and Debra Howcroft, Information Systems Research Centre, University of
Salford

The debate between "hard" positivist and "soft"
interpretivist research approaches has been the subject of much discussion in the IS
field. Typically, the debate is framed in issues central to the philosophy of science, an
area where relatively few IS researchers are truly competent. This paper attempts to
illuminate the issue, particularly for students and researchers not entirely familiar with
the arguments. The opposing positions are caricatured in two anecdotes which illustrate
the futility of research conducted at the cul de sac extremes of each approach.
The main dichotomies characteristic of each research tradition are then summarized and
categorized according to various levels, namely, paradigmatic, ontological,
epistemological, methodological, and axiological. Finally, the paper considers a number of
strategies for resolving the debate.

The IS Effectiveness Matrix: The Importance of Stakeholder and
System in Measuring IS Success, Peter B. Seddon, D. Sandy Staples, Ravi
Patnayakuni, and Matthew J. Bowtell, The University of Melbourne

The value added by an organization's IT assets is a critical concern to
both research and practice. Not surprisingly, a large number of IS effectiveness measures
can be found in the IS literature. What is not clear in the literature is what measures
are appropriate in a particular context. In this paper, we propose a two-dimensional
matrix for classifying IS effectiveness measures. The first dimension is the type of
system studied. The second dimension is the stakeholder in whose interests the system is
being evaluated. The matrix was tested by using it to classify IS effectiveness measures
from 186 empirical papers in three major IS journals for the last nine years. The results
indicate that the classifications are meaningful. This, in turn, means that the IS
effectiveness matrix provides a useful guide for conceptualizing effectiveness measurement
in IS research, and for choosing appropriate measures.

Shifting Boundaries and New Technologies: A Case Study in the
UK Banking Sector, Susan V. Scott, The London School of Economics, and Geoff
Walsham, The Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge

This paper describes case study based research on the use of innovative
computer-based decision support systems introduced into corporate lending processes in a
major UK bank. It describes how the new technology was implicated in shifting boundaries:
within the sector as a whole and in specific organizational de-layering; between
local/global dimensions of the loans process; and in the status of expertise and
personal/professional risk. The case study is connected to broader debates in IS and
social transformation through an analysis that relates aspects of the empirical material
to themes from social theories of reflexive modernization. Some implications and
conclusions are drawn for both the banking sector and IS research.

Technology as Traitor: Emergent SAP Infrastructure in a Global
Organization, Ole Hanseth and Kristin Braa, University of Oslo

This paper discusses IT infrastructure development and use in the
European fertilizer division of Norsk Hydro. The main element of the infrastructure
discussed is a new SAP-based solution for this division. However, this solution is not an
isolated artifact. Its important aspects are emerging as it is becoming an integrated part
of a larger infrastructure.

This infrastructure is designed and controlled by managers and IT
personnel, but also an actor shaping its environment as well as its own future. Like any
actor, the technology builds alliances with others. However, the alliances might change
over time. In the case reported here, SAP was first allied with top management, playing
the role as a powerful change agent. Later on, SAP was allied with local managers and
users, helping them bringing the change process under their influence and to the speed
they preferred. Currently, SAP is changing its role as it is installed and integrated into
a larger corporate infrastructure. As such, it becomes everybody's enemy by resisting all
organizational change

Developing a Successful Information and Communication
Technology Industry: The Role of Venture Capital, Knowledge, and the Government,
T. Vinig, University of Amsterdam; R. Blocq, J. Braafhart, and O. Laufer, Vrije
Universiteit Amsterdam

Study of the factors that have lead to the development of a flourishing
information and communication technology (ICT) industry is often based on the Silicon
Valley development in the U.S. Given the globalization of the ICT industry, there is a
need to understand the factors which contribute to the development of a successful ICT
industry and to determine whether a generic model can be used to gain a better
understanding of the forces that shape ICT development in other regions of the world. This
study examines the phenomenal growth of the Israeli ICT industry in recent years, growth
that is referred to as the "New Silicon Valley." A generic model for the
development of ICT industry is presented. We use the model to compare the development of
the Israeli ICT industry with that of Silicon Valley and with the current state of the
Dutch ICT industry. The results indicate that the model holds for both (historical) review
of the development of Silicon Valley and for the current state of the Dutch ICT industry.
The implications of the findings are discussed.

Patterns in the Organization of Transnational Information
Systems, William R. King, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of
Pittsburgh, and Vikram Sethi, College of Business, Southwest Missouri State University

The objective of this study is to understand the organization of
information systems and technology in organizations whose activities cross national
boundaries. Access to new markets for products, services, raw materials, and skills has
always been a powerful incentive for organizations to expand internationally. The
establishment of global alliances to leverage core competencies has led organizations to
seek new ways of conducting business which have demanded a rethinking of organizational
structures, processes, and culture. One of the fundamental tasks has been the
establishment of appropriate information technology platforms to coordinate business
processes for global business.

The study uses a previously-developed taxonomy that is based on five
dimensions of transnational strategy: the configuration of value chain activities, the
coordination of value chain activities, centralization, strategic alliances, and market
integration. These dimensions define the manner in which the value-added activities of the
firm are dispersed and coordinated across nations, the hierarchical structures responsible
for decision making, the strength of the external alliances of the firm and the managerial
philosophy of global business conduct. These dimensions have been shown to be a valid
basis to identify a comprehensive taxonomy of transnational strategy.

A basic proposition of this study is that a firm's transnational
strategy will be reflected in the design of its information systems. In order to address
this proposition, a two-stage questionnaire study was conducted. Respondents included 150
multinational corporations from 20 countries and 25 industries.

The study proposes hypotheses to examine the alignment of information
technology in the various types of firms that are identified by the transnational strategy
taxonomy. The study empirically determined the existence of three types of transnational
information systems strategies. These are:

1. A low dispersal-high centralization strategy which is adopted by
export-oriented and portfolio firms,

2. A high dispersal-low centralization strategy which is primarily used
by parent-child firms, and

3. A high dispersal-high centralization strategy which is most suitable
for global firms.

The study has implications for practitioners in critically evaluating
existing transnational business strategies and designing effective transnational
information systems. It should also help researchers in determining factors that impact on
the design of transnational information systems.

Framing Design: A Social Process View of Information System
Development, Susan Gasson, Binghamton University

This paper discusses a social process model for design activity in
organizational IS development projects, based upon the findings of an interpretive,
participant observation study of information system design processes in a mid-sized UK
telecommunications equipment manufacturing company. The form of the proposed model is a
dual-cycle dialectic between opening up the design problem and narrowing down design
solutions; it is also a dialectic between individual and group design activity in the
context of participation in a social community of design practice. A social cognition
perspective was used to analyze the activities of design in context; implications of the
findings of the study for a process model of design activity are contrasted with
managerial assumptions and practices imposed by the use of the traditional,
decompositional model of design.

The paper has important implications for theory and practice. From a
theoretical perspective, it is suggested that design team intersubjectivity regarding the
goals and legitimacy of the process of design is a better measure of progress and
design "completeness" than intersubjectivity regarding the form and requirements
of the target information system. From a practical perspective, the adoption of a
dual-cycle, convergence model of design might facilitate the management of detailed design
activities between project milestones. The findings also have implications for the
management of organizational "learning": if organizational problem-solving
processes are seen as involving distributed and emergent knowledge, then an explicit goal
of intersubjective understanding is not only inappropriate, it is not attainable.

Using a Positivist Case Research Methodology to Test a Theory
About IT-enabled Business Process Redesign, Suprateek Sarker

Washington State University, and Allen S. Lee, Virginia Commonwealth
University

We derive a process theory, the "technology-oriented theory of
business process redesign," from the business process reengineering (BPR) literature
and test it in a positivist case study of a corporation that implemented BPR. Our evidence
refutes the theory. The future direction we suggest for researchers and practitioners is
to adopt, from the beginning, an orientation that is not technocentric or overly
technological, but gives equal consideration to social dimensions and the interactions
between the social and the technological.

This paper addresses the issue of interorganizational governance and
process integration. Specifically, we are concerned with IOSs characterized by shared
processes, joint control, yet divergent incentive structures. The analysis is inspired by
the Grossman, Hart, and Moore theory of incomplete contracting, which forms a framework of
vertical and lateral integration based upon residual rights of control over physical
assets. In this study, we explore the application of a derivative of this framework, which
allows for the separation of physical and information-based assets. As a consequence of
this separation, we demonstrate how the acquisition of information can shift the locus of
decisions in integrated processes as well as affect pricing and the distribution of rents
within a value chain.

The empirical setting is a high-tech manufacturer that implemented a
Lotus Notes application which tracks the flow of products across several legal entities
within its sales channel. We conduct a simple regression analysis for transactions with
one distributor, where we find significance in the price differential for products traded
within vs. outside of the system, demonstrating a shift in the distribution of rents via
information appropriation. We conclude with a discussion of how a managerial perspective
would benefit from viewing supply and value chains that span organizations as single
systems, not merely competing agents, and suggest how an incomplete contracts perspective
is beneficial to this challenge.

IT infrastructures coupled with BPR initiatives have the potential of
supporting and enabling new organizational forms and helping firms face the challenges of
globalization. The management literature gives prescriptions of how to set up, implement,
and use infrastructures to reach a new IT capability; diminish transaction costs; and
obtain competitive advantage. However, the scant empirical basis of such literature goes
hand in hand with the lack of a theory linking the deployment of infrastructure to the
nature of the business and the industry. This study of the deployment and use of
infrastructures in six large multinationals sets the ground for a contingency approach to
the whole issue. The different implementation processes and applications reported by the
case studies suggest that there is much more variety than the "one best way"
recommended by the literature. The economic theories of standards and of the firm as a
repository of knowledge are good candidates to explain qualitatively the empirical
evidence.

Energizing the Nexus of Corporate Knowledge: A Portal Toward
the Virtual Organization, Alexander Y. Yap and Niels Bjørn-Andersen, Copenhagen
Business School

In the age of virtual organizations, managers and experts cease to be
lone custodians of the corporate knowledge base. Knowledge must be shared across cultural
and time-space boundaries to create strategic frontiers in global and virtual enterprises.
However, we believe that organizations have barely scratched the surface of the
"knowledge sharing game" played across virtual environments. In technology-based
organizations, for example, technical knowledge must be meticulously captured and conveyed
in a highly cognitive manner to have substantive benefits in raising the competence and
productivity of globally-dispersed workers. In this light, we contend that richer forms of
knowledge/media representations, such as virtual reality (VR) and 3D imagery, could be
creatively utilized to enable improvements in knowledge management, especially within
virtual workspace. We further argue that organizational learning evolves to a higher level
only when knowledge management is radically improved and effectively exploits
"organizational memory" with the aid of IT . This paper explores how a
technology-based firm, APV Anhydro, has extracted technical knowledge from its experts and
creatively presented such knowledge in rich media representations using VR/3D
technologies. This enabled APV to share rich technical knowledge across its global
marketing operations, and as a consequence, accelerated its organizational learning
process.

IT Value Contingencies: Moderating Effects of Market
Responsiveness and Business Stratgy, Kristina Setzekorn and Arlyn Melcher,
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale; and Arun Rai, Georgia State University

The fundamental questions regarding whether and how information
technology (IT) contributes to firm performance have been answered in different ways, with
some studies reporting negative impacts, some finding no overall effect, and some finding
positive impacts. To reconcile these findings, several studies suggest thatcontextual
effects moderate IT's performance effects. Firm effects reportedly account for roughly
half the productivity benefits attributed to IT--i.e., firm capabilities may leverage
investments in IT. Our research question is, "To what extent do market responsiveness
and business strategy moderate the relationship between IT infrastructure and firm
performance?" We will test these ideas using moderated regression analysis with data
from the latest Global Manufacturing Research Group (GRMG) survey.

Electronic Markets and Intelligent Agents: An Experimental
Study of the Economics of Electronic Commerce, Khim-Yong Goh

Hock-Hai Teo, and Kwok-Kee Wei, National University of Singapore

The increasing popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW)
has been fueling the rise and development of a global electronic marketplace. Electronic
commerce applications in such a global electronic marketplace typically encompass
business-to-consumer, business-to-business, and intra-business activities.

This research focuses on WWW-based, business-to-consumer retailing.
Electronic retailing on the Internet is typically performed through standard online
storefronts (e.g., Absolutely Fresh Flowers), specialized online retailers (e.g.,
Amazon.com), and online megastores (e.g., NetMarket). Standard online storefronts offer
direct sales of an individual vendor's range of products. They are similar to
"single-source electronic sales channels" as defined by Malone, Yates and
Benjamin. Specialized online retailers and online megastores offer cross-organizational or
cross-national connections such that they include product offerings from a number of
competing sellers. These specialized online retailers and the online megastores correspond
to electronic markets as discussed by Malone, Yates and Benjamin. Unlike traditional
retailing, WWW-based retail commerce provides consumers with a unique ability to use
intelligent agents (comparison-shopping agents) to automate the search for price and other
product information across multiple merchants simultaneously. The use of such agents has
been touted to reduce buyers' search costs across standard online storefronts, specialized
online retailers, and online megastores, and to transform a diverse set of offerings into
an economically efficient market.

A key requirement of supply chain management strategies is information
sharing. Component technology facilitates information sharing by providing a means for
integrating heterogeneous information systems into virtual information systems. The
component environment makes possible new strategies to reshape and improve supply chain
networks. These strategies include modularization and encapsulation, plug-and-play
component development, enterprise specialization, dynamic supply chain network
configuration, and cross-industry enterprise integration. We show how these strategies can
be applied to the supply chain network management using the order fulfillment process as
an illustration.

Linking the European Monetary Union and the Information Systems
Strategy of Financial Institutions: A Research Approach to Understand the Changeover,
Manuel João Pereira, Catholic University of Portugal, and Luís Valadares Tavares,
Technical Institute of Lisbon

Over the past century, Europe as a geographical and political region
faced many cultural, geographical, territorial, and growth changes. After two world wars,
where the continent was devastated, the European Union (EU) is trying to create a powerful
economic group in the world: the European Monetary Union (EMU). The economic benefits and
costs (as well as risks) expected are indicated in the following topics . Other
researchers indicate that the financial industry in EU will be significantly and
negatively affected by EMU in the short and medium run. So, the study of information
systems strategy in financial institutions assumes an important role in a microeconomic
context in the paradigm shift to the EMU.

Adoption of IS Development Methods Across Cultural Boundaries,
Gezinus J. Hidding, Loyola University Chicago

In IS practice as well as in the literature, IS development methods are
prominently espoused. IS development methods are used around the world and globalization
of business stimulates their harmonization. To our knowledge, no empirical research has
been reported regarding the effect of national cultures on the actual (non-)adoption of IS
development methods, which is the focus of this research project. The study is based on
Hofstedes well-known research (conducted within IBM), which has provided a conceptual
foundation for cross-national research over the past two decades. Data encompassing
approximately 40 countries were collected within one global consulting firm. The outcomes
of this study are expected to have implications for how global organizations can introduce
new development methods more effectively.

The Adoption and Use of National Information Infrastructure: A
Social Network and Stakeholder Perspective, Satish Nambisan, National University
of Singapore, and Ritu Agarwal, Florida State University

This study draws upon stakeholder theory and social network analysis to
examine the diffusion of national information infrastructure (NII) among two key
stakeholders--the end users (or customers) and application/ service providers. The context
chosen is Singapore ONE. The study also investigates the types of mechanisms utilized by
network participants for resolving their concerns with respect to NII adoption.

Influencing the Success of Spreadsheet Development by Novice
Users, Timothy G. Babbitt, Dennis F. Galletta, and Alexandre B. Lopes, Joseph M.
Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh

Spreadsheets have become commonplace, facilitating decision-making at
all levels in most organizations. Their ease of use is unfortunately accompanied by an
abundance of errors, which some researchers have discovered to reach the magnitude of
billions of dollars. There are two main streams of research in this area. One focuses on
the categorization of and extent to which errors are made, and the other focuses on
detection of those errors. The error detection studies have found that errors are very
difficult to detect, and spreadsheet builders fail to plan and test adequately. This study
advances that work by testing the relative importance of instructing novices in
spreadsheet planning and testing. To date, the data seem to indicate a significant effect
of instruction in the planning phase. However, some inadequacies in the data lead us to
draw only tentative conclusions, and further testing of this and a future, additional
sample will provide a more substantial basis for our conclusions.

An Integrative Model of Information Systems Use in Mandatory
Environments, Patrick Rawstorne, Rohan Jayasuriya, and Peter Caputi, University
of Wollongong

The volitional nature of IS use in organizations is shifting to
contexts of mandatory adoption. This has prompted a need for IS researchers to reassess
current predictive models of IS use. In this paper we present our work on a theoretical
framework for predicting IS use in a mandatory adoption environment. Issues specific to
mandatory environments are raised and discussed, and a new model for predicting end-user
behavior is proposed. Methodological considerations for testing the model are discussed.

Systematic reuse is becoming an increasingly popular way to improve
software development productivity and quality. The implementation of a software reuse
methodology requires substantial investments for the company. The factors that contribute
to the overall success of reuse for an organization have been examined in prior research.
However, even in organizations that are successful in employing reuse, some projects may
fail to achieve the targeted amounts of reuse. This suggests that there are other factors
beyond the overall organizational factors affecting the success of software reuse in
projects. This research explores the factors contributing to reuse success of individual
projects in organizations that practice systematic software reuse methodologies.
Structured interviews are conducted with software developers to identify the factors and
project data is scrutinized to assess the impact of these factors. Reuse success is
measured by the reuse percentage achieved. A large scale survey of software development
firms will be used to empirically tests the relevance of the identified factors to
systematic reuse in general. We believe that an organization that can identify the factors
affecting potential software reuse will be able to better target investments in the
improvement of reuse methodology and thus influence the software productivity and quality.

Managerial Control Over IT Projects: Control, Forms,
Commitment, and Dominant Coalitions, Magnus Mähring, Stockholm School of
Economics

This research in progress addresses how managers engage in controlling
IT projects, which can be seen as an instance of a classical problem in organizational
control: managing sensibly in situations where subordinates have superior task knowledge.
Theories used in the study include control theory, theories on commitment and escalation,
and theories on IS implementation. An in-depth, retrospective, interpretive case study
forms the empirical basis of the study.

Preliminary results include the importance of input control as
a control form and the role of a dominant coalition of controllers. The
functioning of the dominant coalition, as it evolves, is closely associated with the
organizational commitment to an IT project. Findings on the influence of the project
leader (controllee) over managers (controllers) indicate limitations of management
control.

An Activity Based Costing Approach to Systems Development and
Implementation, Ginny Ooi, Christina Soh, and Pui Mun Lee, Nanyang Technological
University

Many organizations are in the process of replacing legacy systems with
large, integrated systems using new technological platforms. Accurate estimation of
project resources required and appropriate allocation of actual development and
implementation costs to users are two critical issues faced. This study proposes an
activity based costing (ABC) approach to estimating and recovering system development and
implementation costs.

We develop the model in the context of a bank, using a two-stage
approach. A prototype is first developed using two systems projects. Development of the
prototype requires us to identify the resource pools and attendant costs, the major
development activities, the consumption of resource costs by activities, the primary cost
driver for each activity, and the driver rates for allocating activity costs to the system
being implemented. The prototype model is then refined and validated using additional data
collected from another 20 projects.

Rapid innovation, intense competition, and the drive to survive have
compelled information technology (IT) firms to seek ways to develop high quality software
quickly and productively. The critical issues faced by these firms are the
inter-relationships, sometimes viewed as trade-offs, between quality, cycle time, and
effort in the software development life cycle. Some believe that higher quality can only
be achieved with increased development time and effort. Others argue that higher quality
results in less rework, with shorter development cycles and reduced effort. In this study,
we investigate the inter-relationships between software process improvement, quality,
cycle time, and effort. We perform a comprehensive analysis of the effect of software
process improvement and software quality on all activities in the software development
life cycle. We find that software process improvement leads to higher quality and that
process improvement and quality are associated with reduced cycle time, development
effort, and supporting activity effort (e.g., configuration management, quality
assurance). We are in the process of examining the effect of process improvement and
quality on post-deployment maintenance activities.

Effectiveness of Virtual Learning Environments in Basic Skills
Business Education: A Field Study in Progress, Rami Ahmad, Gabriele Piccoli, and
Blake Ives, Louisiana State University

This paper describes research investigating the effectiveness of
web-based virtual learning environments by comparing them to traditional classroom
environments. A conceptual framework is proposed contrasting the effectiveness of these
two environments using both objectivist and constructivist learning models. Although
technology may serve as a mediator that enhances the implementation of certain features of
a learning model, it is evident that the learning model--not the technology--is the
primary cause of learning. Theory predicts that a higher level of "learner
control" leads to more effective learning. Control and flexibility, among other
advantages offered to the learner in virtual environments, lead us to propose that such
environments are more effective than the traditional environments regardless of the
learning model employed. Furthermore, it is proposed that virtual environments are even
more effective when the constructivist model is employed.

Learning effectiveness is measured based on performance, self-efficacy,
and satisfaction. A field experiment was conducted to test the components of the proposed
research model with about 200 business undergraduate students in an introductory MIS
course. The findings will be of interest to both the education and business communities,
who are striving to capitalize on information technologies to adequately meet the
challenges of this information age.

Exploring the Role of Identification in the Privacy Decisions
of Webmasters, Thomas Shaw, Management Science and Information Systems
Department, University of Texas at Austin

This paper integrates identification and ethical decision making
theories to understand how webmasters form moral judgments about the privacy of users on
the World Wide Web. This integration is warranted because communication is fundamental to
the role of webmaster, yet ethical decision making theories fail to acknowledge
communication. The integrated theory will be tested using a scenario-based survey of
webmasters.

Telecommuters and Work Groups: A Communication Network Analysis,
France Belanger, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Today' workforce comprises an increasing number of telecommuters. At
the same time, more and more of the work being performed by both telecommuters and office
workers involves the manipulation of information, otherwise known as knowledge work. Most
knowledge workers need substantial communications to perform their jobs. Before the advent
of telecommuting, most communications were mediated by the physical proximity of workers.
Today, however, communication technologies play an ever increasing role in supporting
individual and organizational communications. In this research, telecommuting is defined
as working away from the traditional office at least one day a week, while using computers
and telecommunication facilities to maintain a link to the office.

Stakeholder Experiences with Conceptual Modeling: An Empirical
Investigation, Arvind Patel, Marc Sim, and Ron Weber, The University of
Queensland

During the design of an information system, a significant task that is
sometimes undertaken is conceptual modeling. It involves designers building a
representation called a conceptual schema that captures application domain
features to be included in the information system.

For five reasons, conceptual modeling has become increasingly
important: (1) conceptual schemas help clarify different assumptions that
stakeholders hold about the domain being modeled; (2) integrating conceptual schemas
is critical to organizations effectively re-engineering their business processes;
(3) the quality of conceptual schemas affects the quality of database schemas that
can be generated automatically; (4) the quality of conceptual schemas affects the
usability of databases; and (5) stakeholders working with distributed, heterogeneous
databases cannot effectively transcend boundaries without high-quality conceptual schemas.

While researchers have expended substantial effort on developing
conceptual modeling methodologies, little empirical work has been done on stakeholder
experiences with conceptual modeling. The meager results obtained suggest that
organizations have found few benefits from conceptual modeling and that often it has
fallen into disuse. Laboratory work indicates, however, that improved design outcomes
occur when conceptual modeling is undertaken.

For two reasons, we expect that stakeholders will experience problems
with using conceptual modeling in practice. First, we believe that many designers approach
conceptual modeling with a functionalist view of the world. We believe that a social
relativist view more accurately describes how stakeholders conceive the world. Second,
many conceptual modeling tools provide only incomplete representations of the application
domain to be modeled.

We are currently undertaking case-study research to document the
conceptual modeling practices engaged in by a large public-sector organization. We are
also seeking to identify the problems that stakeholders experience when they participate
in conceptual modeling exercises. Our goal is to provide a taxonomy of problems that the
stakeholders face and ultimately to develop theory to account for why these problems
occur.

Disaggregating the Return on Investment to IT Capital,
Vijay Gurbaxani, Nigel Melville, and Kenneth Kraemer, Center for Research on Information
Technology and Organizations, University of California, Irvine

Several firm-level empirical studies have found positive and excess
returns to investments in information technology (IT) capital. Using a production function
framework that typically includes such inputs as IT capital, non-IT capital, and labor,
these studies estimate the return on investment in IT. Taken together, this body of
research provides evidence of a payoff to investments in IT contrary to the often-cited
productivity paradox. However, while these studies have provided an empirical foundation
supporting the assertion that IT spending at the firm level pays off, the distribution of
returns across different forms of IT capital remains unclear.

This study represents one of the first attempts at disaggregating the
heterogeneous IT capital category into its salient constituents and examining their
respective contributions to the value of the firm. Specifically, we focus on three
hardware categories: mainframe computers, minicomputers, and microcomputers. Rather than
simply reflecting different technological characteristics, these categories of computers
also reflect the different kinds of applications that typically run on these systems.
Moreover, we explicitly take into account the degree to which a company's employees are
networked, since connectivity is likely to affect the payoff. We use new data on the
capital stock of these categories of systems as well as the level of computer networking
at the firm level for a nearly balanced panel of large firms spanning the eight year
period 1987 to 1984, representing more than 3,600 observations.

We find strong evidence of positive returns to investments in mainframe
computers and PCs, but mixed results in the case of minicomputers. The output elasticity
of PC capital exceeds that of mainframes, and the degree to which a company's employees
are networked positively impacts the overall efficiency of the production process. The
results of this study are important for both research and practice. From a research
perspective, the disaggregation of IT capital into constituent categories represents a
logical next step in the small but growing literature that examines the returns to
information systems spending. Our results, and in particular the estimates of the output
elasticities and marginal products, have significant implications for determining the
optimal level of investment in different technologies.

Buy the Book: Electronic Commerce in the Book Trade,
Claudia Loebbecke, Copenhagen Business School, and Philip Powell, Goldsmiths College,
University of London

Exploitation of the Web is a pipe dream for many businesses, as they do
not or cannot analyze their motives for having a web site. There is more to a successful
site than a corporate logo on a home page. Firms do not foresee the effort in maintaining
a site, the increased competition from exposure to a "global market," or the
impacts on the existing business.

This discussion case analyses the opportunities and risks of launching
electronic commerce services at the Co-op Bookshop. The case describes Co-op's difficult
progression to a profitable web presence. It will allow students to consider the strategic
issues underlying any web presence. They will also have the opportunity to discuss the
type of site, timing, and content appropriate to the firm and the economics of being
on-line.

The Dow Corning case examines the role of information technology and
the information technology function in enabling large international organizations to
transform a functionally-oriented, regionally-organized business into a customer-oriented,
global firm. Specifically, the case explores the dilemma posed by enterprise resource
planning (ERP) systems, which would appear to offer a useful tool for integrating global
processes but have proved to be extremely difficult to implement. The case is divided into
two parts. Part A describes the history of information technology at Dow Corning and
presents management's rationale for designating IT a strategic resource in late 1994. Part
B presents Dow Corning's plans for global implementation of SAP and reviews its progress
immediately following the pilot implementations. Designed for discussion (as opposed to
problem-solving), the case asks students to assess Dow Corning's objectives for, and
approach to, SAP implementation and to consider the efficacy of using an ERP as a catalyst
for organizational change.

Nortel: Reinventing IS, Olga Volkoff and E. F. Peter
Newson, Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario

This discussion case presents various issues which arise when an
organization must change the structure of the IS function to support a new (and, in this
case, process-oriented) corporate structure. Students will

(1) learn about different roles and structures for an IS group in an
organization, and in particular,

 consider the implications of centralizing versus decentralizing
IS resources,

 understand the need to balance business knowledge,
responsiveness to clients, technological expertise, and cost-effectiveness of operations,

 explore the possible roles for an IS group in the context of a
corporate reengineering exercise.

(2) discuss and analyze different alternatives for implementing the new
structure, and in particular consider the implications of revolutionary versus
evolutionary change.

Riverbank Financial: Balancing the Pendulum, Kathryn
Brohman, Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario

The primary learning objective of this case is to discuss the optimal
balance between technology and customer focus to maximize IT effectiveness in the
organization. The case illustrates the changing role of the information technology (IT)
division within a large Canadian financial institution.

Secondary objectives of this case are to provide a description of how
organizations can effectively manage the changing role of IT, illustrate the effectiveness
of different styles of leadership in IT management, and introduce the concept of a
resource center as a new structure to support software development.

1. be introduced to a particular ERP (enterprise resource package)
software, SAP R/3, to learn about the pros and cons of ERP packages in general, and R/3 in
particular.

2. learn how an organization's reengineering efforts may drive the
adoption of an ERP system and later influence the implementation of the system: Students
will identify what problems (outdated legacy systems, Y2K, lack of customer
responsiveness) lead to the implementation of a package. Furthermore, they will be
sensitized to the type of implications reengineering-related decisions may have (e.g.,
downsizing) on the feasibility of the implementation project.

3. be exposed to different aspects of the decision making process
related to an ERP implementation: choice of package, hardware, consultants, implementation
approach. They should (1) gain an improved understanding of the issues involved in
implementing an enterprise package (as opposed to conventional IS development) and (2) be
sensitized to potential implications of their decision-making for later project stages
such as implementation and maintenance.

Xcert Software, Inc., Keng Siau, University of
Nebraska, Lincoln

The case on Xcert Software, Inc., illustrates the operational and
strategic issues encountered by a startup IT company in the Internet security business.
Xcert faces difficulty in a number of areas: (1) finances, (2) future direction and
leadership, (3) organizational structure, experience and size, and (4) marketing. This is
a discussion case that introduces students to the competitive world of Internet business
and provides them an opportunity to discuss and debate the myriad issues facing the
founders of Xcert.

Most people concur that electronic markets constitute a significant
innovation that will radically alter markets in the future. However two key questions
remain. Who will stand to benefit from electronic markets? How should various existing
market players position themselves in regard to initiatives to establish such markets?

This case discusses these two questions by studying the air cargo
industry in Hong Kong, where an electronic trading network has recently been launched with
considerable success. It analyzes how and why this electronic network became an instant
success and it also addresses whether the network will evolve into an electronic market.
Furthermore, what stakeholders are in favor of such a move and who will seek to resist it?

Panel 1--IT Phone Home: The
Techno-institutional Development of Standards in the Evolution of Global Cellular
Telephony

Chair: John L. King, University of California, Irvine
Panelists: Juha Knuuttila, University of Jyväskylä; Kari Lang, Nokia Research Center;
Joel West, University of California, Irvine

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) invented
cellular telephony and launched the world's first commercial mobile telephone service in
St. Louis in 1946. However, it was launched under the tight regulation of the U.S. Federal
Communications Commission, which controlled the frequencies allocated for the radio
component of the system. Despite efforts by AT&T to persuade the FCC to extend
spectrum allocation to permit the widespread deployment of the U.S. AMPS cellular
standard, the FCC did not conclude its allocation of radio spectrum for radiotelephony
until 1977.

In the mean time, telephone companies in both Japan and Northern Europe
had begun development of their own cellular systems. Japan deployed a Nippon Telephone and
Telegraph (NTT) proprietary cellular system in central Tokyo in December 1979, although
this system was short-lived. However, by 1981 the countries of Sweden, Finland, Norway,
and Denmark had deployed a system based on the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) standard that
soon became the analog cellular standard for Europe. Moreover, the process of creating NMT
formed the basis for the creation of the digital cellular standard known as Group Special
Mobile, or GSM, which has become the world's dominant cellular telephone standard.

AMPS in the U.S. was not deployed until 1983, and when it was deployed,
it was by competitors to the near-monopoly AT&T that had created the technology.
Somehow, over a period of four decades, an uncontestable leadership role in the creation
of what has since become a vital global industry was lost by the United States to Northern
Europe. How did this happen?

This panel explores the complex interplay of technology and
institutional forces in the creation of the global cellular telephone industry. As such,
it provides a powerful and cautionary tale about the extent to which institutional
constraints can thwart organizational players that possess not only the dominant and
superior technology, but also the first-mover advantage to exploit that technology in the
market. The panel will explore how, in all three major first-generation systems--NTT, NMT,
and AMPS--the standards for the initial systems were developed by the operators. But only
in Northern European countries did key institutional innovations occur at the right time
to ensure successful cooperation not only between operators, but across national
boundaries. The NMT standardization built on the exist Nordic telephone operator's
council, and directly led to (and heavily influenced) the larger pan-European
standardization effort for Europe's GSM digital standard.

In contrast, U.S. standardization efforts were slowly ratified by
extensions of existing industry trade groups, often delayed by bickering among rival camps
who were divided by roles, marketing alliances, and technical standards. Japanese
standards development was in conflict between the standardization efforts of NTT and the
government. In both cases, the divergence of approaches to standard-setting made it
impossible to reconcile the various regions' standardization processes, let alone their
respective standards.

Radical IT innovations such as cellular telephony require a perspective
in research that engages the uncertainty created when the rapid forces of technological
change come up against the more entwined forces of institutional order. The resulting
uncertainty and ambiguity create a variable and often unpredictable rate of change that
challenge the cognitive limits of managers in the developing technological and market
innovation strategies. This panel will place in the foreground the challenge of
incorporating the techno-institutional nexus in the understanding of widespread IT
innovation across organizational, sectoral, institutional, and national boundaries.

Designers' failure to understand situated work practices is one of the
reasons for the high implementation failure rate of information systems. There are thus
numerous calls for IS practitioners and researchers to study work practices in order to
understand the fundamental patterns of behavior that will ultimately determine a
technology's intended and unintended consequences. Studying practices requires a focus on
the mundane detail of everyday life so as to uncover the local habits, assumptions, and
tacit knowledge that members of the social group have difficulty articulating. This has
theoretical and methodological implications. Theoretically, a practice orientation
suggests that the causes for human action are situated, local, and socially constructed.
Methodologically, a practice orientation relies upon the interpretation of largely
observational data collected over an extended period of time. It thus calls for
field-based ethnographic research.

Even though calls for a practice orientation persist, what is meant by
practice remains ambiguous. The purpose of this panel is to explore the meanings of
practice from four theoretical perspectives. These are Giddens' structuration theory,
Bourdieu's theory of practice, Foucault's discursive and disciplinary practices, and the
role of narrative in constructing coherence and a shared sense of practice in systems of
distributed cognition. Examples from the panelists' empirical research will be used to
illustrate each of these perspectives.

Panel 3--Acquiring and Implementing ERP: The View from Business
and Academia

Since the early days of computing, organizations have aspired to
integrated, enterprise-wide information systems architectures. Through the years, these
aspirations have been reflected in the quest for integrated MIS, enterprise-wide data
models, and integrated databases. In recent years, with the increasing demand for process
integration both within and across organizational and industry boundaries, this quest has
gained further momentum. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, such as SAP, BaaN,
Peoplesoft, and Oracle, are a recent business response to this quest. By providing
integrated packaged solutions, not only do they provide an integrated system architecture
for the organizations' information processing needs, they also claim to provide ready-made
"best-of-the-breed" solutions for particular lines of businesses. Furthermore,
given their enterprise-wide scope and extensive impact on organizational and
interorganizational business practices, the acquisition and implementation of these
systems substantially affects both the organization and the nature of corporate IS
practices and the responsibilities of corporate IS departments. While a number of high
profile organizations such as Boeing, Mercedes-Benz, ABB, and Levi have recently adopted
ERP as an integrated replacement for their enterprise-wide information infrastructure,
recent press reports outline a number of issues with the adoption and implementation of
ERP systems. Moreover, the adoption of so-called "best-of-breed" applications
raises a number of questions about the appropriateness and value of cookie-cutter
solutions to diverse organizational requirements.

This panel provides both industry and academic perspectives on the
current and future role of ERP systems in organizations, their implications for the
organization and the corporate IS function, and the issues surrounding their adoption and
implementation.

CALS began in 1985 as a way to reduce the paperwork and coordination
efforts involved in the procurement functions associated with the design, development, and
maintenance of large weapons and aerospace systems in the U.S. Under sponsorship of the
U.S. Department of Defence (DoD), a process was established whereby standards were
developed and implemented to support electronic sharing of information among the DoD and
its prime and subcontractors. At that time, the acronym for CALS stood for Computer Aided
Logistic Support. In 1987 and 1993, as the scope of CALS expanded, the acronym became
known as Computer aided Acquisition and Logistic Support and then Continuous Acquisition
and Lifecycle Support.

The CALS initiative soon spread beyond the original domain of U.S. DoD
and aerospace contractors and caught the interest of manufacturing firms in other parts of
the industrialized world. Important CALS supportive frameworks were established in such
countries as Germany and Japan. CALS conferences (CALS EXPO) helped spread the word about
the potential for CALS to form the basis for an enterprise integration strategy
as well as the foundation for companies on the path toward becoming virtual
enterprises. CALS provides a framework for the development of standards and
technologies that foster collaborative efforts and the sharing of engineering and
manufacturing information. It can be seen as an enabler for independent companies to
inter-operate and exchange information in real-time so that they can work as a single,
integrated unit. By 1995, CALS came to stand for Commerce At Light Speed in the commercial
world. Proponents of CALS took the position that CALS could serve as the integrating
strategy for the exchange of all types of information, both within and between
enterprises. In other words, CALS could become an umbrella strategy for encoding all forms
of data to support all modes of electronic commerce (EC).

Despite the rising interest in CALS as a strategy for inter- and
intra-enterprise integration, it is neither well known nor well understood by the EC
community at large.

Panel 5--Approaches to Using the Year 2000 Problem in
Information Systems Courses

Chair: Michael Vitale, University of Melbourne
Panelists: Ben Light, Manchester Business School; Gerald Knolmayer, University of Bern;
John Mooney, University College Dublin

The Year 2000 (Y2K) problem is real, and by this time it is clear that
the question is not whether there are going to be difficulties, but how severe the
inevitable difficulties are going to be. Articles about Y2K appear in the popular press on
a daily basis, and web sites related to the issue continue to proliferate. This popular
attention offers an opportunity, and perhaps an obligation, to connect academic teaching
and research with the real world. The goal of this panel is to illustrate and encourage
the incorporation of the Y2K problem into university information systems courses at all
levels.

Although the panel will take place in December 1998, its message will
still have relevance, for the Year 2000 problem will not end in the year 2000. Moreover,
many general topics can be approached via the Y2K issue, including IS planning, the role
of IS standards, the potential benefits and pitfalls of IT outsourcing, and large-scale
project management. Finally, the Year 2000 problem is an example of the kind of challenge
regarding building and maintaining IT infrastructure that IS managers will increasingly
face in the future.

The format of the panel is simple. After a brief introduction by the
chair, each panelist will be given 15 minutes to discuss how he has used the Year 2000
problem in IS teaching. These brief presentations will include the panelist's goal(s) for
including this topic, the way(s) in which the topic was used, the amount of preparation
required on the part of teacher and students, the lessons learned, and the outcomes
achieved.

The format will allow ample time for questions and discussion after the
formal presentations. Each panelist will also provide sample materials, which will be
available as handouts at the panel session and on the Internet following the Conference.

Many predict a shift in the way organizations function as the World
Wide Web becomes the predominant way that people gain access to computer applications and
information. As organizations graft Web interfaces to their legacy systems and conceive of
entire new information systems that take advantage of the Web infrastructure, a new field
called Web Information Systems (WIS) is emerging. There is a clear difference between a
set of Web pages and a WIS. The WIS supports work, and is usually tightly integrated with
other non-Web-based information systems such as a databases and transaction processing
systems.

But, what is so different about WIS from other distributed information
systems? And for that matter, how do WIS really differ from more traditional systems?
Don't WIS developers face the same needs for systematic analysis and design, robust
implementations, economic return on investment and competitive advantage, etc.? Are the
users of WIS that much different from other information system users? How much do the
lessons we've learned over the last several decades of IS research and development apply
to the Web?

This panel will explore the young field of Web Information Systems,
examining issues in Web development and usage contrasted with our experiences with
traditional systems. Our goal will be to come away with a better understanding of the Web,
Web Information Systems, and traditional information systems.

This panel examines the practice of identifying target journals for IS
research. As participants in a scholarly community, individual researchers and their
institutions may benefit from guidance on the choice of journals for submission of
scholarly work. Official "target journal" lists have begun to appear within
departments, where they play a role in evaluating the contributions of individual faculty.
The panel examines this practice from three distinct angles. First, research that
evaluates the relative standing of scholarly journals in the IS field will be described.
The results of a 1998 survey and two earlier surveys will be presented. Second, the
current practices of two leading IS departments in North American business schools will be
described. The actual lists, the controversies surrounding their development and
maintenance, and their use and consequences will be described. Third, the practice of
identifying target journals will be challenged, and the controversies surrounding the use
of such lists will be examined.

Panel 8--Power and Politics in IT Implementation: Perspective,
Threat, and Promise

As information technology plays an increasingly central role in firms,
it often serves as a significant driver of organizational change. Introduction of new
systems is linked with changes in business processes, decision-making structures, and the
flow of information within organization. New communication technologies build bridges that
span boundaries both within and between firms. Changing processes, information flows, and
decision-making structures alter the distribution of power within an organization.
Consequently, many discussions of IT implementation, management, and impact in
organizations touch on the internal politics associated with these processes.

Organizational power and political perspectives occupy an awkward
position in the IS community. On one hand, power and politics are clearly a concern to
practitioners and IS educators. Trade journals often attribute the success or failure of
IT related initiatives to political savvy or clout. Organization power and politics are
mentioned in many IS textbooks. However, while there is agreement that power and politics
play an important role in IT implementation, there is surprisingly little attention given
to them in the recent IS research literature. This situation prompts several questions
about the theoretical and practical value of the power and political perspectives on IT
implementation.

 What (if anything) does this body of research contribute beyond
the general observation that the implementation and management of IT in organizations are
political processes?

 How can research on the role of organizational power and
politics be brought to bear constructively on the problems faced by IS practitioners?

 What areas of IS research would benefit from greater
consideration of organizational power and political issues?

 What are the challenges (methodological and/or professional)
faced by researchers interested in studying organizational power, politics, and IT?

The purpose of this panel is to encourage audience members to explore
the opportunities and challenges associated with developing and applying power and
political perspectives on the application and management of IT in organizations. Both
panelists and audience members will be encouraged to respond to and discuss a series of
claims about the past and future of research on power, politics, and IT in organizations.

Panel 9--Adaptive IT Infrastructure: The Platform for Global
Integration

Information technology infrastructure is the physical platform that
enables firms to share information resources electronically. It supports the people,
processes, and data needed to conduct projects, create partnerships, and reach new markets
independent of geographic or organizational boundaries. The demands for such information
sharing are not limited to textual data: geographically dispersed team members may require
the ability to share graphics generation, viewing and alteration capabilities, real-time
audio, and even video. A firm's ability to meet rapidly changing needs to share
information--in increasingly complex and expensive ways--depends on infrastructure
characteristics. How IT infrastructure may be cultivated to support unanticipated
requirements is the subject of much speculation among IT managers.

One view of IT infrastructure cultivation takes the approach of
deliberate, strategic resource planning and management. In this view, IT must be part of
the ongoing, firm-wide strategy, management, and planning processes. Various forms of
process transformation, such as business process redesign, electronic commerce,
internationalization of business processes, and knowledge management, may require
different infrastructure capabilities. If the capabilities are not in place at the time
they are needed, the transformation may stall, or worse--fail. Hence, infrastructure
planning must be integrated with the earliest strategic business-transformation planning.

Another, much practiced approach to infrastructure management can be
described as "keeping-up" with business plans and requirements. Cost constraints
and uncertainty in the environment severely impair a firm's ability to plan and build a
"strategic infrastructure." Without specific business objectives, the firm
cannot justify investment in advanced technology-based capabilities. Development of
additional flexibility (or capability capacity) in the IT platform is simply perceived as
an unaffordable luxury. The "keeping-up" view of infrastructure planning is
essentially a contingency approach. Infrastructure technology is developed partially in
response to unanticipated but crucial new requirements, but also with a very knowledgeable
eye to the direction of technological growth and business requirements in the industry.

A third approach to infrastructure management may be described as
organic. In industries in which growth and dependence on information technology are both
extremely high (as is the case in the computer industry), some argue that planning a
platform to support continuous innovation is nearly impossible.

Technology resources, technical capabilities, tremendous resource
planning, and management skills are all critical to infrastructure characteristics, their
capabilities, and, ultimately the organization's capabilities. IT infrastructure
characteristics will likely be reflective of organizational characteristics, and their
capabilities will likewise be interrelated. The panel will present and discuss the most
current issues and challenges relating to the development of the infrastructure platforms
that support virtual integration and their relation to different organizational
characteristics.

Peter Weill will discuss the barriers to linking infrastructure
capability to strategic context, first conceptually and then drawing on new work in pc/lan
infrastructures.

Matt Sherrod and Nancy Duncan will discuss the problems, practices, and
continuing challenges of firms with high demands on infrastructure flexibility or
responsiveness in environments of great uncertainty. In such cases, infrastructure
development somewhat resembles building a bicycle while riding it. Matt will discuss the
challenges of meeting unanticipated infrastructure demands under rigorous time constraints
such as those experienced when Arco Alaska discovered a new, 350 million-barrel oil site.
In this industry, cost minimization competes with time pressures as telecommunications
professionals race to build a support system for internationally dispersed project teams.
The flexibility of the new Internet and public frame relay platform AAI designed for the
new oil field development project was tested and proven shortly after it was established.
The degree of integration and access to these team technologies on this project alone
saved AAI between $500,000 and $1 million.

Nancy will present a look at infrastructure development in the
rapid-change environment of the computer industry. At Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), the
spontaneous eruption of thousands and tens of thousands of intranet sites has evolved into
an infrastructure whose value is inestimable. But one indicator of its value is found in a
single altered process. With the infrastructure capabilities developed by and for the
intranet, SGI saved $7.5 of the budgeted $8 million for a single product launching event
in 1997. Many of these intranet sites are the creations of individual employees who
developed and added them to the system on their own initiative, and often to serve only
their individual work purposes. Although this autonomy results in certain inefficiencies,
it has also enabled SGI to cultivate an infrastructure that is readily integrated with the
development of new processes or the transformation of old ones. The freedom SGI employees
have to transform processes unilaterally to reduce or obliterate inefficiencies may be the
most efficient way to derive a flexible infrastructure: evolution and survival of the
fittest.

After initial presentations, the panel members will be asked to comment
on two key issues in infrastructure planning and management. First, to what extent can
infrastructure growth be managed by design? Can it be designed to "grow" or
evolve naturally along with changes in business functions or activities with minimal
intervention from IT management? Second, what is the role of vendors in the development
and management of IT infrastructure? What are the potential risks and advantages of
depending on vendors for infrastructure services, and what are their relative weights?

The empirical research on the practice of telework indicates that there
are a number of issues that seem to impede successful telework. The fear of lost
managerial control is reported to be a significant factor preventing widespread adoption
of telework. Managers are also concerned that telework may require them to change their
management style since they cannot rely on visual contact for monitoring and control.
Researchers suggest that a more results-oriented management style is needed and that a
shift in management from being a passer of information to a leader or coach is necessary.
Trust is suggested as being a key ingredient to effectively manage teleworkers. Managing
perceptions of corporate culture in a remote worker is also seen as a possible obstacle,
requiring additional investment from managers.

As we can see, quite a bit appears to be known about telework practice;
however, most of the literature originates from English speaking countries. It is not
clear to what extent the findings reflect the reality of telework in other cultures. Thus,
questions such as what is the emerging reality for telework and how is this reality
influenced by culture are still unanswered. Our panel will attempt to address these
questions.

The objective of this panel is to explore and debate a range of issues
that are related to the practice of telework and the impact of national culture on these
issues.

Reflecting this objective, each member of the panel will do four
things:

1. Discuss examples of successful telework initiatives in their
national culture.

2. Discuss examples of unsuccessful telework initiatives in their
national culture.

3. From these examples, identify barriers to telework in their culture
and the impact of their national culture on telework practice.

4. Identify unique characteristics of their nation's business and
social cultures and briefly compare and contrast those to the cultures discussed by prior
panelists. In this way, each panelist relates differences about telework in their own
culture to the other cultures represented and builds on previous panelists' comments.

Each panel member will spend 10 minutes addressing the four tasks
described above. The five panelists represent five different cultures (Australia, Israel,
Austria, Norway, and Singapore). The remaining time will be dedicated to an open
discussion, with the audience invited to address one or more of the panelists. An attempt
will be made to encourage a debate between members of the audience, as well as between
them and the panel members on all issues addressed by the panel.

Auctions are formalized trading procedures in which the trading
partners' interaction is governed by specific rules for competitive bidding and trade
execution. Auction markets provide procedures for the exposure of purchase and sales
orders to the market participants in order to determine the price of trade objects.
Empirically, we find a multiplicity of auction types with different trade objects, access
rules for participants, and trading rules.

During the 1980s, electronic auctions were developed and implemented
that distributed not only information about the trade objects electronically but also
executed the trading process itself as computer-mediated process. The extensive
proliferation of electronic commerce on the Web has accelerated the diffusion of
electronic auctions. While the classic examples of electronic auctions such as the Tele
flower auction or Aucnet have been designed as wholesale auctions with a dedicated
communication infrastructure and relatively high entry costs, the Web has facilitated the
rise of electronic consumer auctions. AuctionNet [http://www.auction.net], NETIS
auctionweb [http://www.auctionweb.com/online/], The Internet Auction List
[http://www.usaweb.com/auction.html/], Bid Find WWW Auction Search
[http://www.bidfind.com], The Auction Hunter [http://www.auctionhunter.com] are
examples of Web sites with listings of numerous, altogether hundreds, of auctions.
Individual auction sites like ONSALE [http://www.onsale.com] have gained
worldwide attention.

This panel considers the impact that the Web is having on auctions:
their economic rationale, strategic potential, and diffusion. This is done through a
consideration of electronic auctions in light of the classical auction theory and the
impact of the Web on the various players in an auction. The hypothesized impacts are
compared with the experience of Lufthansa, with its Web-based ticket auctions, and other
examples of Web-based auctions. The panelists will discuss economic, strategic,
institutional, and technical aspects of Web-based auctions:

1. Classical auction theory and the need for an electronic
auction theory. Face-to-face auctions are a well researched field. We will
briefly present some of the theoretical foundations, major issues, and voids. Based on a
rough classification of electronic auction parameters (technical environment,
participants, trade objects, auction rules)we will consider open issues and necessary
amendments or extensions to auction theory. The focus will be on consumer auctions.

2. Electronic auctions from a seller's perspective. Airlines
have seen the transformation of ticket auctions from a marketing event, which was designed
to draw attention to their Web site, into a distribution channel. For many vendors,
auctions are but one of several distribution channels. We will discuss the strategic
positioning of electronic auctions in comparison to other sales and distribution channels:
What are the interdependencies, and probably interference, between the different channels
and which isolation mechanisms are available?

3. Understanding customer behavior. In order to assess
the attractiveness of auctions from a customer's perspective, we will present a
cost-benefit framework covering comparative search and transaction costs, price
advantages, and the exposure to quality risks and collusion. The economic rationale will
be complemented with motives such as bargain hunting, gambling, or charity. We will
consider the influence of cultural patterns, like the habit of price negotiations in an
Arabic bazaar, on the acceptance of auctions.

The availability of last-minute tickets has prompted customers to make
their travel decisions and ticket purchases on short notice. In a similar way, the
proliferation of Web-based auctions might influence customers' buying patterns and
facilitate for example, the spread of price negotiations and competitive bidding into new
domains.

4. The changing role and challenges for intermediaries.
While traditional auction theory has focused mainly on buyers and sellers, intermediaries
play a crucial role in electronic auctions. In the highly fragmented environment of the
Web, intermediaries try to integrate multiple auctions in order to generate sufficient
liquidity on the buyer and the seller side. In order to reduce the quality risk for the
buyers they try to establish a good reputation and trust. We will consider the range of
functions for auction intermediaries and will assess institutional and technical success
factors for electronic consumer auctions.

5. The impact of electronic auctions on the market place.
Empirical evidence suggests that auctions are changing the market place. In markets with
established auctions, such as flower auctions, online auctions are changing the roles of
established players and the level of competition among the auctioneers. In markets where
auctions have been unknown, auctions are challenging established price structures and the
role of established distribution channels. We will illustrate these trends with a few
examples.

6. Future development of electronic auctions. A
tentative analysis of the impact of Web technology on auctions suggests that

 new trading rules, in most cases combinations of existing rules,
are emerging;

 auctions are applied to new business domains; and

 automated (for example, agent-based) trading models are designed
in order to make the search and bidding process more efficient.

We will explore these trends, give (preliminary) evidence of how some
of the current shortcomings of electronic auctions can be overcome, and indicate future
directions for research.

Chair Matthias Jarke, RWTH Aachen
Panelists Giorgio de Michelis, University of Milan; Helmut Krcmar, University of Hohenheim;
Florian Matthes, Higher Order Software; Aris Ouksel, University of Illinois at Chicago;
Carson Woo, University of British Columbia

For a long time, researchers have viewed information systems as an
interplay between people, organizations, and technology, but few efforts have really
addressed this very complex picture of mutual influence. The main claim of this panel is
that the challenge of change we are facing can only be met with better interaction between
these three facets of information systems: the technological, the organizational, and the
workgroup practice facet.

Current research communities are looking at one, at best two, of these
facets and are thus missing important mutual impacts and opportunities for innovation.
Similar problems appear in industry, where technical advances such as interoperatibility,
web technologies, or separation of control from applications are only loosely coupled with
organizational computing strategies, such as those promoted by ERP vendors like SAP, or
empowerment tools for individuals and groups.

The panel, comprising researchers and practitioners of web programming
language technology, heterogeneous databases, groupware, organizational modeling, and
strategic information management, will address mutually relevant advances and point out
some benefits from looking at these facets together, resulting from recent research and
commercial efforts.

Finland -- Spinning the Networked Nation Ahead

Chair Kalle Lyytinen, University of Jyväskylä

"A Tutorial of the Finnish Society and Its History," Yrjö
Länsipuro, Chief of the Press Office, MfA

"Finnish Information Technology Policies and Their
Evolution," Pauli Heikkila, Head of IT Research, Center for Technology Development,
with commentary by Seymour Goodman, University of Arizona

"The National Information Society Strategy in Finland," Antti
Rainio, Project Manager, Finnish National Fund for Research and Development, Sitra, with
commentary by Niels Bjørn-Andersen, Copenhagen Business School

"The Vision of a Virtual Finland: The Case of Virtual
Helsinki," Risto Linturi, Technology Manager, Helsinki Telephone, with commentary by
K. Pelly Periasamy, Nanyang Technological University

Out of Scandinavia: The History and Contributions of an IS
Research Tradition

This summer, the Scandinavian IS research community celebrated its 21st
annual IRIS conference (Information systems Research In
Scandinavia), and from that point of view it is probably the oldest
active IS research community in the world. Many important contributions have come out of
this tradition: for example, the work of Börje Langefors on theories of information
systems (1966), which contributed to the establishment of our field, and the controversial
contributions of Kristen Nygaard (1971), emphasizing the political aspects and the
strengths of action research approaches as integral parts of information systems studies.

One of the most common misconceptions about Scandinavian IS research is
captured in the notion of "The Scandinavian Approach." Research contributions
from Scandinavia often have special features because they are created as part of societies
with long traditions for democracy in the workplace, with an openness to debate and
conflict, and with a strong tradition for design of artifacts. But there is no such thing
as one shared approach to IS in Scandinavia. On the contrary, there have always been a
great variety of competing approaches, some more technical than others, with a strong
social orientation, some based on positivist traditions, and others based on
interpretivist or action-oriented traditions.

Its is the specific societal conditions, the richness and great variety
in research approaches, and the open atmosphere of debate and mutual exchange that have
influenced the contributions of the Scandinavian research tradition. The panel has been
designed to provide an overview of and insights into this tradition by presenting
different views of its history and contributions.

First, historian Gro Bjerknes will discuss key elements in the
evolution of the tradition. Gro will outline some major schools of thought that have made
key contributions, and she will also provide useful information about the published
literature on the history of Scandinavian IS research.

Second, design researcher Erik Stolterman will describe
examples of Scandinavian contributions to understanding IS as a design discipline. Erik
will explore the Scandinavian traditions related to participatory design and work-oriented
design of computer artifacts, and he will take a closer look at work related to the
notions of metaphor and design rationale.

Third, editor Peter Axel Nielsen will review the publications
from the Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems. Peter will discuss the profile and
contents of papers that have been published over the past 10 years and compare this
picture to corresponding profiles of other IS journals.

Finally, participant observer Karlheinz Kautz discuss the
Scandinavian tradition from the point of view of the informed outsider. Karlheinz has a
background in German academia, but he has been part of the Scandinavian community for a
number of years and worked as a researcher in both Norway and Denmark.

The Master's Degree Program in Information Systems

Chair: Gordon B. Davis, University of Minnesota
Panelists: David Feinstein, University of South Alabama; Ted Stohr, New York University;
Joe Valacich, Washington State University; Rolf Wigand, Syracuse University

There has been significant recent activity related to model
undergraduate curricula in information systems and suggestions for curricular improvement
in content and pedagogy. Although these major efforts were modeled within the context of
the North American university degree program structures, they are useful for consideration
in curricular design in other systems as well. Two major studies were the recent report
for undergraduate degree programs in information systems (IS'97, available on the CD-ROM
containing these Proceedings) and the soon to be published NSF funded study: ISCC'99
(Educating the Next Generation of Information Specialists in Collaboration with Industry).
This panel addresses the related issue of a Master's degree program in information
systems.

The most recent model curriculum for a Master's in information systems
developed in 1982 by a committee of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
Although there has been some work and conferences around the subject since that time, no
new report has been published. A joint committee of the Association for Information
Systems (AIS) and ACM was established for a Master's degree program in Information
Systems. A short paper describing the work of the joint ACM/AIS committee and containing
responses to questions that have been raised in sessions with faculty members is provided
in the Proceedings. The paper provides background for the ICIS panel discussion.

This paper examines complex problem solving using drugs and cyber crime
as examples.

Y2K and Euro Project Management: Lessons Learned

Janis Gogan, Bentley College; Janice Sipior, Villanova University

Preliminary results of case studies will be presented in this session
to provide an initial set of "best practices" and "lessons learned"
about year 2000 and euro conversion project management. The cases reveal both similarities
and differences in technical, organizational, and strategic approaches to comply with the
processing requirements for the arrival of the year 2000 and the euro. Janis Gogan,
Bentley College, will discuss year 2000 project management and contingency planning, based
on longitudinal case studies of six large organizations. Janice Sipior, Villanova
University, will present euro conversion project management issues, based on case studies.

"Herr Gutenberg, I think your printing press is going to
revolutionize education. Imagine how much faster students will learn when they have their
own books."

"Senor Marconi, your radio is going to revolutionize society.
Everybody can ow hear the opera and the orchestra."

"Mr. Baird, your invention will revolutionize education. People
will be able to see and hear the best professors and teachers. Television will educate
everyone."

"Mr. Watson, I recommend IBM make a major investment in
educational software. Computers can do a far better job of assisting learning than books
and teachers."

And now:

"You know Tim [Berners-Lee], this WWW stuff will revolutionize
education. Students can do classes on-line at their own pace when they want and wherever
they are."

By most reckonings, the only one to score in the great education
revolution is Gutenberg. What is the likelihood of the Web revolutionizing education?

This debate will follow the traditional model. Two speakers will argue
that the Web will revolutionize education and two will present the opposing argument.
Gordon Davis will adjudicate the debate and make a concluding statement.